The Israeli Air Force carried out targeted airstrikes in Beirut and the military claimed it hit the headquarters of the Hezbollah group.
An Israeli official confirmed to The Times of Israel that the strikes targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was believed to be at the command center at the time.
“It’s very hard to imagine him coming out alive from a strike like that,” said the official.
A source close to Hezbollah told The Times of Israel that the Israeli strikes flattened six buildings.
Issuing a statement on the strike, IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari posted on X: “Moments ago, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a precise strike on the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terror organization…taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can live in their homes, safely and securely.”
The IDF said it conducted strikes on ‘strategic terrorist targets’ of the Hezbollah group in Beirut city.
” Among the targets struck are weapons production facilities, buildings used to store advanced weapons and key command centers of the terrorist organization,” the IDF posted on X.
Meanwhile, in another update shared on X, IDF said Hezbollah’s Missile UnitCommander Muhammad Ali Ismail and his deputy Hussein Ahmad Ismail were eliminated in IAF strike.
“Ali Ismail was responsible for directing numerous terrorist attacks against the State of Israel, including the firing of rockets toward Israeli territory and the launch of a surface-to-surface missile toward central Israel on Wednesday,” IDF wrote on X.
“This follows the elimination of the terrorist Ibrahim Muhammad Qabisi, Head of Hezbollah’s Missiles and Rockets Force, as well as other senior commanders of this unit,” the army said.
The conflict between IDF and Hezbollah has intensified in recent times.
According to media reports, the Israeli airstrikes on the terror group this week left over 700 people dead in Lebanon.
The sudden and massive escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon has created widespread fear that even worse is to come, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
“We are witnessing the deadliest period in Lebanon in a generation and many expressed their fear that this is just the beginning,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s top aid official in Lebanon. “The UN and its partners are closely coordinating with the Lebanese government to support the response efforts. This includes aligning aid distribution, conducting joint assessments, and identifying urgent needs for affected populations.”
Speaking from Beirut, Mr. Riza, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, said that for nearly a year, the country’s people – and especially those in the south – had “lived in fear” that the war in Gaza could come to them.
Today across Lebanon, thousands of people in rural communities previously unaffected by Israeli targeting of Hezbollah infrastructure have fled bombardment and widespread destruction that have claimed at least 700 lives, injured thousands and uprooted around 120,000 people “within mere hours”, he said, adding: “We are running into people that are saying, ‘What’s the way to Tripoli? How do we get to there?’”
The UN aid coordinator’s comments come amid increasingly intense exchanges of fire across the UN-patrolled line of separation between Lebanon and Israel since 7 October when war erupted in the Gaza Strip. Last week’s extraordinary targeting of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies left hundreds dead and signalled the start of intense Israeli bombardment in Lebanon and retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah.
